Barack Obama is directly encouraging Republicans to cross party lines and vote for him in the Democratic caucus here in Nevada on Saturday.
It's a not-so-transparent ploy to attract anti-Hillary Republicans who have no intention of voting Democratic in the general election.
In his ad, Obama touts the Las Vegas Review-Journal, a right-wing newspaper which endorsed Obama and compared Hillary Clinton to a "horror movie" rerun, invoking the specter of Monica Lewinsky and Paula Jones.
Apparently, Obama wants to keep his pitch to Republicans under the radar because his television ads make no reference to the Review-Journal.
In the endorsement, the newspaper's editorial board harshly criticized Obama's rivals:
Suffice it to say there are dozens of issues that Americans happily dismissed as "water under the bridge" as the Clinton era came to a close, but which would quickly ensnare Sen. Clinton and her party in a presidential race that would soon look like a struggle to escape the La Brea tar pits.For starters, imagine Sen. Clinton and "co-president" Bill Clinton invited onto a "This is Your Life" talk show where they're joined by Juanita Broaddrick, Kathleen Willey, Paula Jones, Gennifer Flowers and Monica Lewinsky.
And that's before we even get around to a HillaryCare plan that could have sent you to jail for offering to pay your doctor in cash to "get to the head of the line."
Meanwhile, John Edwards' anti-capitalist populism is not in this country's long-term best interests.
The irony is that the Review-Journal wasn't too kind to Obama, either:
Is Barack Obama, then, the ideal Democratic candidate for president? Hardly. His policy recommendations -- when he can be convinced to get any more specific than "I represent change" -- are the opposite of "change." They're old-line, welfare-state solutions that haven't spent enough time in the microwave to appear even superficially appetizing.
Obama keeps on telling us that he's the only Democrat who knows how to appeal to Republicans.
No thanks. Not this way.
I won't be caucusing for Hillary Clinton on Saturday (I support John Edwards), but I don't want Hillary-hating Republicans selecting our party's nominee.
Republicans have driven our party's agenda for far too long.
No more. This must stop.
© Jed Lewison